James Fears, born about 1828 in Charlotte County, Virginia, was the third child of James Fears, Sr., and his wife Rebecca Dungy. He married Serena Catherine St. John, "free persons of colour," 18 December 1847 Charlotte County, Virginia bond. He registered in Charlotte County on 7 October 1850: Bright complexion, aged 22, free-born son of James Fears & Rebecca his wife.  Shortly after the birth of their first child Henry Brooks Fears, the couple moved to Henry County, Indiana, with his parents and siblings. He enlisted in the Civil War, farmed in Kansas and Nebraska and was listed as a mail carrier in the census for Custer County, Nebraska, in 1900. He died 7 July 1906 in Hall County, Nebraska, and his wife Serena died at the home of their daughter Hannah Johnson on 30 December 1912. See www.hcgs.net/fears.html

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